Asian America is oppressed and disempowered and the target of hate. And now he’s secretary of state.Īsian America is privileged. And when he ran for Congress, Mike Pompeo called his Indian opponent a “turban-topper” and said he could be a ‘Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, who knows’… Despite the racism, Pompeo won.
The first murder classified as a hate crime after the election of 2016 was 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was told to “get out of my country” before he was shot to death at a bar outside Kansas City. We are in federal prisons at a lower rate too.Īnd yet Asian-Americans have the highest poverty rate out of any ethnic group in New York. The divorce rate for Asian Americans is also lower than that of white Americans. Young Asian Americans, those between ages 25-29, are better educated than white Americans. Overall, Asian American men and women both earn more than our white counterparts. The facts, though, are that we triumph over every group in America - not just minorities. And certainly the attitude around Stuyvesant High School right now – and the future of its admission test - is to lump all minorities in and pit one group – ours, as some alleged “model” – against the others, blacks and Latinos. That term forces us to be compared to other brown or black people. The title of your conference today was Model Minority. In this definition of community, this broad definition, we are truly blessed. And when there’s a big purchase like a house or a car or college tuition, we pool our money and make it work. We drive friends to and from the airport or the hospital or basically anywhere they need to go. There’s always enough food for the five or 15 people who might just stop by. We open our houses and our basements and our attics to cousins and complete strangers. We have ridden these close bonds and a propensity to look out for each other to much success. And I think this trait is shared by many Asian communities. If you look underneath table 12 over there, I think you might find my uncle - and his whole family. There is no such thing as a +1 for us Indians. I have an army with me here today because the stereotypes about Indians are true. Their first stop in America was an apartment just about 13 blocks from where I live today in Jackson Heights, Queens. (Asian tip, always thank your mother-in-law first) And my parents, Mohesh and Nirmala Kalita, who arrived in 19, respectively. So tonight I share this award with my in-laws, Kiran and Satish Mukul, who arrived in Canada in the 1960s and then crossed the other border into Massachusetts. In this year that the Asian American Federation is honoring women, we acknowledge the sacrifice that our families make day in, day out, for us to do the work we do.Īnd of course, we acknowledge the families who came before us to pave that path in the first place.
I thank her and my entire family here for sharing this day with me, as they have shared so so many days that were meant to be theirs – birthdays, anniversaries, milestones like losing teeth and bigger crises like losing homework or library books. Which we know is really an award that trumps mine tonight - especially in the Asian community. And congratulations, Naya - she’s heading to Stuyvesant High School in the fall. So thank you, Asian American Federation for throwing us a better dinner. We were just planning to go to the Olive Garden tonight for dinner.
Just to be clear what we are celebrating today - my daughter Naya graduated from 8th grade earlier this afternoon. Delivered on the evening of Jat The Pierre Hotel at the Asian American Federation annual gala these were my prepared remarks but I recall starting with a joke about how I deserved another award for rocking my sari on the subway